2023-09-04 14:03:45
General Brice Oligui Nguema, who overthrew Ali Bongo Ondimba in Gabon, was sworn in on Monday as president of a “transition” at the end of which he promises elections.
Head of the presidential guard, General Oligui Nguema ended 56 years of power of the Bongo family in Gabon by taking the lead in a putsch perpetrated on 30 August. The next day, the heads of the army and police corps, meeting in a Committee for the Transition and the Restoration of Institutions (CTRI) headed by General Oligui, had accused the entourage of the Head of State in house arrest of “massive embezzlement” of public money and one “irresponsible governance”.
Omar Bongo ruled the country from 1967 and his son Ali Bongo succeeded him in 2009. For more than 55 years, the Bongo family thus ruled without sharing this small Central African state, among the richest on the continent thanks to its oil, but under the yoke of a elite accused by its opponents of “massive corruption” and “bad governance”.
“I swear before God and the people of Gabon to faithfully preserve the republican regime“, “to preserve the achievements of democracy”, declared to the Presidency before judges of the Constitutional Court, the brigadier general in red ceremonial costume of the Republican Guard (GR), the elite unit of the army he had commanded for decades.
A new Constitution for Gabon
Brice Oligui Nguema, who became interim president, was given a standing ovation by the military officers and officials present upon his arrival at the ceremony and immediately following taking the oath. State television showed footage of a cheering crowd and armored vehicles being fired into the sea in celebration.
In his speech, the general proposed a series of reforms, including a new Constitution to be adopted by referendum, as well as new electoral and penal codes. He also advocated measures to prioritize local banks and businesses for economic development and pledged that political exiles would be welcomed upon their return and that political prisoners would be released.
Upcoming elections
Repeatedly interrupted by applause, he described the coup as a moment of national liberation and a manifestation of the will of God. “When the people are crushed by their leaders, it is the army that restores their dignity,” he said.
Several personalities from the Bongo government, including the vice-president and the prime minister, attended the ceremony.
Brice Oligui Nguema once more affirmed that he would hold free and fair elections, but without giving a timetable. “After this transition (…), we intend to return power to civilians by organizing new elections which will be free, transparent, credible and peaceful”, he declared.
ECOWAS meeting this Monday
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